HOUSTON – A suspect was arrested and charged in the shooting of a U.S. Service Postal worker last week and the attempted shooting of another man minutes later outside a gas station on Bunker Hill Road, according to Houston Police Department.
The suspect, identified as 24-year-old Matthew Williams is facing multiple charges, including aggravated assault against a public servant, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, felon in possession of a weapon, theft of a motor vehicle and violation of a protective order and assault of a family member in the 177th State District Court, according to police.
Williams is also charged with failure to stop and give information in Harris County Criminal Court. Additional charges are also possible, according to HPD.
The mail carrier, 30-year-old Adrian Jackson was hospitalized in critical but stable condition after being shot on Cedardale Drive in Spring Branch, according to officials.
A photo of the suspect was not made available, pending further investigation. Williams, described as a white man with tattoos on his face, has an extensive criminal record, court records show.
A multi-agency investigation was launched with the U.S. Postal Inspection Service, the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco and Firearms (ATF) and Houston police. Investigations led police to Williams, who was taken into custody on Dec. 30 and subsequently charged.
Two shootings, one suspect
Jackson was delivering mail on foot on Cedardale Drive on Dec. 28, when he was shot in his back and stomach by an unknown suspect who then fled the scene, police said.
A neighbor said he heard about four gunshots and ran outside, according to the Harris County District Attorney’s Office. The neighbor said he found the postal worker on the ground bleeding.
The postal worker told officials that he heard a gunshot and felt pain. Jackson said that the only car in the area at the time of the shooting was a black hatchback with a white male driver with facial tattoos, according to the district attorney.
Investigators later discovered a connection to another shooting incident at the Costco Gas station on Bunker Hill Road, according to Harris County Attorney’s Office. The same suspect who shot Jackson also attempted to shoot a person at the gas station, officials say. There is about a 1.5-mile distance and a 5-minute delay between the two shooting incidents.
No one was injured in the second shooting incident, according to officials.
An officer reviewed video surveillances near the gas station, according to a document filed in court. He saw a white man with tattoos on his face driving a black hatchback Honda Fit stop and speak with a man, later identified as Rudy Pasia. Court records reveal Pasia walked towards the Honda, and when he reached the vehicle, the suspect fired a shot at Pasia. The firearm misfired or jammed, and the suspect fled the scene, officials wrote.
A worker at the gas station also heard a loud pop and saw Pasia holding his face while a suspect pointed a handgun and shot at Pasia from the car. A woman also told investigators she saw the shooter, driving what she believed to be a black Ford Focus with a Texas license plate ending in “6116.”
The investigators used nearby surveillance videos to determine the first three characters of the license plate to be “DMR." A search of the license plate found that the black Honda Fit was registered to Christina Ray of Harris County.
An affidavit filed with the Houston Police Department revealed that a black Honda Fit with the same license plate number was involved in a hit-and-run in the same parking lot as the Costco gas station on Dec. 28.
A complainant said she was rear-ended by a white male driving a small back vehicle, who reversed, drove around her car and turned westbound on Interstate 10 frontage road. She followed the vehicle to a red light, where she took a photo, which revealed the license plate as “DMR 6116.”
Ray told Harris County Sheriff’s Office dispatch the previous day that her ex-boyfriend, identified as Williams, took her car and her house keys. She also told officials that Williams had a handgun. She then told dispatch that Williams was outside her home, yelling for her and said he would “kill her if he knows the police are coming” and “the only way he’s leaving the house is if there is a shoot out.”
Once deputies arrived at the scene, Ray asked deputies to forget about what she had said and that everything was fine. Deputies say Williams is a member of the Aryan Brotherhood gang.
The day after the shootings, a law enforcement official visited Ray’s Katy home where he found the black Honda bearing Texas license plate “DMR 6116″ in the driveway, court records reveal.
Another officer received a call from Michael Williams, who said his brother Matthew came to his house after the shooting on Dec. 28. He said his brother was high on drugs and confessed to shooting the mailman in Houston. He also gave details that matched the description of the vehicle, according to the district of attorney.
Williams’ past criminal record
Williams has been arrested in Texas at least eight times since 2013, according to the Texas Department of Public Safety.
In Nov. 2013, Williams was arrested in Houston for criminal mischief. He was found guilty and sentenced to 1 year in federal jail. Shortly after that, he was arrested and charged with misdemeanor theft in Feb. 2014. About a month later, he was convicted and sentenced to 24 days in jail.
In May 2015, he was charged with misdemeanor assault of a family member in Montgomery County. He was convicted on a lesser charge and required to pay court fines and fees in Aug. 2015. He served no time, court records reveal.
About a month later, Williams was arrested for misdemeanor possession of a controlled substance in Bellville in Austin County. He was convicted and sentenced to 90 days in June 2016.
In August 2015, Williams was charged with possession of a controlled substance in Houston. He was convicted of a lesser felony charge in Jan. 2016 and sentenced to eight months, according to court documents.
Williams was back in police custody by the end of 2016. He was arrested in December for an assault that happened in July. Williams was convicted of a misdemeanor and sentenced to 112 days in jail in July 2017.
In April 2017, he was arrested for possession of a controlled substance in Montgomery County. Two months later, he was convicted and sentenced to 120 days in jail. Then, the Tomball Police Department arrested Williams in September 2017. He was charged for evading arrest with a vehicle and sentenced to two years in jail. He was released from jail in September 2019.